The voting day. Image courtesy news.com.au

But the question begs itself. What are we voting for? What are we trying to achieve with this election. Let us not forget how we ended up here in the first place. It all started with the falling approval ratings of the Labor Party, and specifically it’s Leader, Kevin Rudd. The Liberal party leadership, heavily influenced by it’s deputy leader, decided to dump Kevin as the leader of the country, and install Julia Gillard as the new leader of the Labor party, and thus caretaker Prime Minister.

While this appears to be constitutionally sound, the body politic saw this installation as a violation of their democratic voting ability, citing that they in fact did not elect Julia as the Prime Minister. Fortunately the Labor party were wise enough to know that this would be hugely controversial and announced shortly after, that an election would be held on the 21st August 2010.

I am truly frightened what the outcomes of this election are going to be. I look at Labor’s frivolous spending plans and I am genuinely concerned that if they do get re-elected, that Australia will end up in so much debt, that we will not be able to compete on an international level. Our current account deficit sits $17.459[1] billion dollars and looks to be growing by over $150 million/day.  This figure is frightening. I just read some exit-poll figures which show me that the Carbon Trading problems are not what people care about, nor the National Broadband Network. The real issue is leadership.

I hope we get the Coalition back in. We really need them, now more than ever.

Temperature vs Solar Activity

Never has science been so divided on an issue in my recollection than it has been with this highly politicised and partisan issue. It seems to be the case that no matter which scientist you ask, you get a different answer, or no clear answer at all. With so much debate as to this potentially life-changing issue, how can we be putting policies in place to reduce Carbon emission, especially when we aren’t even sure if the effects are going to be negative? Are we afraid of change? Is change going to occur at all?

“Global warming — at least the modern nightmare vision — is a myth. I am sure of it and so are a growing number of scientists. But what is really worrying is that the world’s politicians and policy makers are not.”

DAVID BELLAMY, Daily Mail, July 9, 2004

I read a statistic recently that showed that something in the order of 0.28% of the “Greenhouse effect” is caused by a direct result of Man [2] . This seems like an incredibly important figure when you realise just how much is being changed economically to try and reduce this number. It seems to me that if the governments of the world are changing policy to counteract the footprint of man in terms of Global Warming, we aren’t achieving anything by doing so.

Bill Gates in his capacity as the head of the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ recently spoke at a TED conference on the impacts of Global Warming and the required effort needed to bring the human output of CO2 to Zero. While I found the technical aspects of his talk quite inspiring regarding his investment in ‘renewable’ energy sources such as solar and wind, and the potential game-changing technology around nuclear reactors that burn U238 instead of U235, the background information regarding the actual impact of Global Warming seems quite ill-informed and rather dubious when my own research cannot confirm the numbers he used anywhere. In fact, nowhere on the Internet can I find even one correlated, verified and detailed, independant study showing even similar results. They are all different. Not only this, if the plan to reduce carbon emission to zero should go ahead, it will be the richest half of the world directly affecting the poorest half. So much of the developing world will depend on industry in the future in order to move above the poverty line. How can we deny them the right to prosper simply because we were too flippant with the environmental risks (if indeed there are any). [4]

Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Region

Before we start to waste Trillions of dollars on reducing our Carbon footprint, why don’t we invest the same money in alternative fuel sources, not for the saving in Carbon emissions, which can’t be a bad thing in my view, but to reduce and eventually eliminate our dependence on Fossil Fuels. You want an investment to benefit humanity, that’s it right there.

“With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phony science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? It sure sounds like it.”
JAMES M. INHOFE, speech in U.S. Senate, July 28, 2003

[1] – http://www.news.com.au/features/federal-election/more-pain-ahead-as-power-bills-set-to-soar/story-fn5tar6a-1225890488248

[2] – http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html

[3] - http://www.skepticalscience.com/solar-activity-sunspots-global-warming.htm

[4] - http://earth.rice.edu/mtpe/atmo/atmosphere/hot/anom_99/greenhouse_map.html

Download the video here -> http://2009.r2.co.nz/20100218/mark-p.mp4

This the man behind what became the initial concept of the internet in terms of what made it popular today. The concept of hyper-linking is what makes the internet truly functional. He makes the point of saying while hyper-linking is the engine that makes the internet work, it’s the content that makes the internet powerful. A realization I had come to on my own quite some time ago back in my web development days.

Some of the points he makes in this video as to where the internet is heading and how it will impact the human race is very insightful. He makes special mention of the Apple iPad and the evolution of eBooks as the catalyst of what will become a new definition of inter-connectivity. The concept of ‘Augmented reality’ is the bit I found the most interesting as it was something I was only vaguely familiar with, but could instantly see the usefulness and potential capitalist spin-off possibilities.

“On the other hand, the arrival of the Web-as-appliance means [the internet] is now leaving the rarefied space of computers and mobiles-as-computers, and will now be seen as something as mundane as a book or a dinner plate.  Apple’s iPad is the first device of an entirely new class which treat the Web as an appliance, as something that is pervasively just there when needed, and put down when not.  The genius of Apple’s design is its extreme simplicity – too simple, I might add, for most of us.  It presents the Web as a surface, nothing more.” – Mark Pesce – Dense and Thick

I hear the words ‘appliance’ bandied about a lot around my office, and it’s taken a major paradigm shift in thinking for people to really start to warm to the idea of the internet, computers and related technology to be simply as transparent as that of a refrigerator. The device isn’t the purpose any more. The service it provides is the purpose. It’s something I had always envisioned as a child playing with my BASIC interpreter in my bedroom, when I was supposed to be outside playing in my cubby house. Even then, on my old, black and white Acer 500+ with 640K of RAM, no hard drive, two low-density 5 1/4″ Floppy Drives and a black and white monitor, I could see the potential of the technology. I even remember my first connection to the internet in 1995 in the back of my school library, connected via a 14.4 kbps modem, and spending days trying to figure out how this HTML stuff worked and what this weird e-mail thing was.  I remember back then I only knew one person connected to the Internet and I happened to know his e-mail address and I was so excited I could send a message to him that didn’t require a stamp. If only I’d realised the true potential of the Internet back then.

Anyway, watch the video and maybe you will be as inspired as I was.

Why did someone think this was a good idea?

Essentially all it does is when you click it, it lays on top of the original soundtrack of the youtube video you are watching with that of the most annoying crowd noises and those stupid plastic horns. It is obviously supposed to make it seem as though you are at the FIFA World Cup but I seriously don’t see the point.

The best random addition to YouTube made to date is when they had the Textp option for watching your favourite videos in ASCII format. Those of you that have used VLC Player will know what I am talking about. It was about as pointless as the Soccer crowd button, but it at least was cool in its own right.

The first time I saw the button I assumed it was some sort of help button as it looked like a life preserver. Once I pressed it and heard the result, I could see they meant it to be a football. It’s the whole ‘Void Space’ thing.

Anyway, tell me what you think of this feature. Is it good? Is it not? Leave your responses in the comments section below.

Peace out,

m@

The new Apple iPad Keyboard dock. Which doesn't come with a charging cable.

I assume, because it doesn’t come with a cable that you have to use the one that comes with the iPad itself, which kind-of makes sense. I would prefer it came with its own and I could keep the other cable separate and in my bag. I hate unplugging things all the time. Probably why I have a dual AppleDock on my desk (iPhone and iPod). But don’t even get me started as to why only the iPhone module of the dock has USB connectivity. Ugh. Seems like such a little oversight. This thing became very mundane and unexciting when I found that out. If both sides were USB enabled, it would have been an impressive and very useful device to have.

Also, if you ever feel the urge to buy both iPhone/iPod cables or docks from eBay, DO NOT buy non genuine cables. I have bought three cables and 2 docks from eBay (all non-genuine) and they all have all sorts of issues ranging from dropouts during USB connection, to the phone not sitting snugly in the dock.

I bought a genuine cable from Apple.com.au on Friday and it works perfectly.  Lesson learnt.

7-10 Business Days

All I want now is my iPad. Oh why Oh why are you not here yet?!?!? Is there some sort of support group I can find to help me through the delay of waiting for my iPad? I have been waiting for almost a month now. Granted the delays were mostly to do with our pay office rather than Apple, but now that the ball is in their court, I just want to keep ringing them to get them to deliver it faster. 7-10 business days is just way too long  for my fragile nerves to handle.

Be here now.. Please!

I am trialling a new online store to promote and sell some of my logos and random designs on T-Shirts, mugs, jumpers etc and  the store (in beta form) is now available courtesy of

Is this good for the company?

CafePress.com. It’s simple stuff. Quotes from some of my favourite movies, office jokes, some graphic design work I’ve done that looks cool, and maybe the occasional random insight. The shirt on the right, the ‘Is this good for the company?’ shirt is from one of my favourite movies, ‘Office Space‘. I used to have this printed out above my desk at work and felt it belonged on a shirt. Same with my ‘It’s a Trap‘ and ‘Give me the goddamn soap’ shirts also. Make sure you look at the image before you buy the shirts though as at present I can’t exclude certain colours so it lets you print black on black. Which is quite silly, obviously.

My ‘Correct Toilet Loading’ shirt is by far my favourite. Enjoy and give me your feedback once you’ve had a wander around the store. I love hearing any criticism, both positive and negative. I  will take it all on board and try to improve the store in whatever ways I can.

Have a browse around and see if theres anything you like, and feel free to buy anything you see on there.

You can access it directly via the CafePress website or via the Septje.com Store page.

Peace, out

m@

Give me the Goddamn Soap.

“Do you boys like Mexico?!”

I made this picture about a year ago and just had to share it. It cracks me up every time. It’s a screenshot from a movie called ‘Super Troopers’ made famous because of it’s crass humour and brilliantly funny one-liners. One of my favourites, and that too of some of my mates around the office is the one in the image below. The chief says this in response to a very stupid conversation about a practical joke that failed dismally.  You can see the scene from which this is taken in this YouTube! video.He is a very funny man and I recommend the movie to anyone wanting side-splitting humour and crass jokes.

The actual studio looks nothing like this

All of this, in front of a camera. If you are up for the challenge, please send me through a short video of yourself doing a 1 or 2 minute review of some piece of tech, or cool website, either to my email, newrecruits@danda.com.au, or via private YouTUBE video. I will need your submissions by Wednesday 18th March.

Thanks, and I look forward to meeting my new co-host.